Add a Brass Bushing to your Drum. No wobble, extend life.

A cheap and easy way to rejuvenate a pair of drums that show too much wear on the drum shaft. My drive was about 6 years old and still had the original drums. However, the slop between the drum and the drum shaft got pretty bad.

Solution; A brass bushing. The Drum Shaft is 1/2" outside diameter and of course the drum has a 1/2" (now sloppy) inside diameter. get a ~1.5"long brass bushing (no collar) that has a 1/2" ID and 5/8" OD. Ace Hardware for $2.25 each.

Remove both drums
Drill out the drum holes to 5/8"
Insert brass bushing
Grease
Reassemble.

No pics as it is fairly straight forward. Drum plastic is very easy to drill. Don't over drill the hole you want the bushing to fit snug into the drum.

Of course for $17 each you can buy new drums.

Spend $5 and a little work to revitalize your drums or spend $34 for new drums.

For all I know the brass bushings may offer superior pedaling with less friction, and when the bushing wear out just replace them. Once drums are drilled bushing replacement should be a snap.

When I was done with the project the bushing remained pressed into the drums and the pedal action was amazingly smooth.

I had nothing to loose in this experiment as the 6 year old drums shaft holes were shot.

Yakaholic

Yak, great idea! I often wondered about the potential for lower friction with metal bushings. You show how easy it can be. Maybe it's time to resurrect a pair of old drums and try it!